More snow Saturday night behind warm and windy weather
Thursday, March 12, 2026
Mostly cloudy skies and breezy winds are over Steamboat Springs with temperatures in the low fifties in town and at freezing near the top of the Steamboat Ski Resort early this Thursday afternoon. More warm weather through Saturday precedes increasingly windy conditions ahead of another quick-moving cold front that will bring much colder temperatures and accumulating snow by Sunday morning.
Strong ridging off the southern California coast and a deep downstream trough over the eastern North America leaves moderately fast northwest flow from the Pacific Northwest to the central Rockies and Plains. Spotty moisture in the stable and warm flow will allow for sunnier skies on Friday before mostly cloudy weather returns for Saturday. But winds will only increase with gusts as high as 60 mph on Friday, followed by 70-80 mph gusts by Saturday afternoon, possibly affecting lift operations.
Similar to Tuesday night, when 3.5” of snow fell at mid-mountain, and 4” up top, accompanied by a 3-degree temperature and 20 mph winds, an eddy of low pressure northwest of Hawaii will encourage a slug of Pineapple Express moisture to move northeastward and be ingested into a wave of cold air moving across the Gulf of Alaska.
The snow on Tuesday night was not well forecast, even by the shortest-range models, with the Gulf of Alaska energy and moisture moving further south than expected, leading to a colder and snowier outcome than forecast. There is a chance the same thing occurs again on Saturday night, with a possible 4-8” of snow falling at mid-mountain by Sunday morning, with quite cold mountain-top temperatures starting in the single digits and highs in town around freezing, well below our average of 45 F, for a change.
Snow showers will continue on the cold Sunday in the favorable cold, moist, breezy, and unstable northwest flow behind the storm, with another 1-4” at mid-mountain possible.
High temperatures rebound on Monday toward average, with continued breezes from the northwest as a ridge of high pressure moves across the West. There may be additional precipitation chances early in the workweek as more moisture moves through northwest flow, though the warm and stable conditions will likely limit accumulations.
Hopefully, Saturday afternoon lift impacts will be minimal due to the strong and gusty winds from the west. Enjoy the return of winter for Sunday, and I’ll have more details on a warming workweek in my next regularly scheduled weather narrative on Sunday afternoon.
